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An initiative to cut down on the waste coming out of mārae has won funding from the Environment Ministry’s waste minimisation programme.
Para Kore Mārae Incorporated has been given $140,000 to implement its zero waste programme on 20 Taranaki and Te Tau Ihu mārae.
Co-ordinator Jacqui Forbes says a similar programme is running for mārae within the Tainui waka.
Para Kore shows mārae committees ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and compost resources, starting with a waste audit.
“That’s where you put it down on a tarpaulin, you tip out all the rubbish and then you separate it into all the different categories. We ask the mārae to keep a track of all their volumes, of their waste and recycling. The mārae has to provide us with a mārae champion so we train that mārae champion to educate the rest of whānau,” she says.
Jacqui Forbes says the Para Kore vision is for all mārae to be without waste by 2020.
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